Page 98 of Guess Again

Lake Morikawa, Wisconsin Tuesday, August 5, 2025

MADDIE’S FLIGHT OR FIGHT RESPONSE KICKED IN AND BLOOD pulsed through the vessels of her neck.

When she turned from the empty counter, Harriett was smiling.

“Looking for your Milwaukee Police Department issued Glock forty-five?”

Maddie looked around the cabin.

The woman was tall and young.

Maddie was trained in close-quarters combat, and she could take care of herself if it came to that.

But her first goal was to get out of the cabin.

She turned and took two steps to reach the back door, but the woman was on her in an instant. Maddie felt her head snap backward as Harriett grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her away from the back door.

Turning, Maddie bull rushed the taller woman, cramming her shoulder into Harriett’s sternum and advancing forward until they crashed into the kitchen table and toppled over the surface.

Maddie landed on top of her in a jarring manner that caused Harriett to release her grip on Maddie’s hair.

Maddie sat up and delivered two sharp strikes to the woman’s face—one landed below her eye, the other square to the nose.

As Harriett cried out in pain, Maddie climbed off of her and sprinted for the front door.

But Harriett caught her shin with her hand and Maddie went down hard.

The woman climbed onto her back and wrapped her arm under Maddie’s chin, tightening her grip in a chokehold that immediately restricted her breathing.

Maddie clawed at the woman’s forearm but could not loosen the grip.

Stars formed in her vision and the compartmentalized memories of her time as a sixteen-year-old girl came back to her, when Francis dragged her to the shores of Lake Michigan to kill her.

Climbing first to all fours, Maddie next managed to get to her feet—Harriett on her back the whole time.

She stumbled a single step forward before bracing herself and then rushing backward several steps and launching them both against the wall of the cabin where the fishing spear Kai had gifted Ethan hung.

Maddie knew that the spear hung on three ivory tusks set firmly into the wood, and she prayed she’d find one of them.

As they crashed backward, Harriett collided against the wall with Maddie’s weight and momentum adding to the force.

Maddie knew she’d hit pay dirt.

Harriett’s scream was other worldly as one of the ivory hooks pierced her back just below the scapula.

Maddie felt the woman’s grip loosen, and she managed to escape from the chokehold.

As Harriett crumpled to the ground, Maddie staggered for a step or two as she sucked in air until the tunnel vision cleared. Then, she turned and ran for the back door.

When she reached it, Francis Bernard stood on the other side and smiled at her through the glass.

Rain dripped from his face.

His clothes were soaking wet and his white T-shirt stained red with blood.

He lifted Maddie’s Glock from his waist and used it to tap lightly on the glass.